Google Gives Businesses A “Boost” With Its Advertising Platform

We have already discussed how to implement an effective PPC campaign, but what we haven’t discussed yet is the fact that there is more than one way to run such a campaign. Though classic PPC campaigns, which are plain ads that just show a link and a little bit of copy, are the default types of ads that businesses tend to utilize, Google Boost ads have been slowly gaining momentum since their advent six months ago – and with good reason.

What are Google Boost ads?

Google Boost ads provide the information that classic PPC campaigns provide; however, in addition to this information these ads include pins, which, when you click on them, provide a location on a map of wherever the advertising business is located. This molding of a Google Places listing with a PPC advertisement makes for a very targeted and likely successful marketing campaign by allowing businesses to cater their ads to a very specific audience and direct this audience to their companies’ websites. In addition, if people use Google maps to search a type of business, a company with a Google Boost ad related to the search query can show up in the results.

The blue pin indicates that these are Boost ads.

How do these ads differ from regular PPC ads?

Aside from the additional location marker, Google Boost also bests classic PPC campaigns with its keyword suggestions and price estimates. Once the advertising business provides Google Boost with a budget, the search engine then decides the details, like how often and where the ads will appear to users. When someone types a keyword or location related to the advertising business into the query box, the ad shows up above the Google Maps listings.

The two ads that show up above the Places Pages are Google Boost ads. This allows people who are looking for location-based services to check out both paid search results and organic Google Places search results. The benefit too is that these paid ads show up first, at the top of the list.

How can I use Google Boost ads to their fullest potential?

Simply using this ad means using it to its fullest potential. What do I mean by that? Well, it’s simple: Google does all the legwork for you. Let me explain:

To set up Google Boost ads, you first need a Google Places Page and a budget of at least $50 a month to pay for the clicks that your ad receives. The best part about setting up these ads is that your business doesn’t have to monitor anything. All you do is set the ad up by providing a budget, some descriptions, a link to your site and the categories within which your ad fits, and then you can simply sit back and wait for Google Boost to begin bringing your website (and therefore your company) more traffic. Even though you don’t have to monitor it, you do have access through your Google Places dashboard to a daily report that details how many clicks you have gotten (and therefore how much money you have spent) as well as what keywords users are using when your ad comes up. Additionally, Google suggests how much money you should be budgeting for these ads to be competitive in your area. This way, you don’t have to reverse engineer the other Google Boost ads in your geographical location; Google does that work for you.

Specifically, your Boost ad can contain your company’s name, phone number and address, a link to your website and your Google Places page, a description (make it short if you can) of your business and your ratings and number of reviews. All in all, Google Boost ads take simple PPC advertising one step further, without giving your business the headache of having to analyze what your budget or keywords need to be.